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Public Relations Scholarships

Have you ever wondered why your favorite movie star gave a specific answer on the red carpet, what the rationale was behind that politician admitting his affair or how an upstart company gained immense popularity overnight? Most likely, a public relations professional deserves some of the credit.

Public relations (PR for short) centers around maintaining the public image of businesses, organizations and individuals. In even simpler terms, public relations execs are responsible for making their client look good at all costs and, in the off chance there is a slip up, cleaning up the mess as quickly as possible. Public relations majors take a variety of classes including journalism, marketing, advertising, business, communications and sociology, all of which prepare students for the rigors of this particular career. There’s a definite need for members in this field – the Bureau of Labor Statistics says employment of public relations specialists is expected to grow 24 percent from 2008 to 2018 – and with the right education, you could be one of them. The only thing holding you back? Paying for school.

A number of schools like the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Florida offer public relations scholarships specifically to their majors but looking beyond campus can yield even more public relations scholarship opportunities. Both the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) give generously to their members, as do public relations firms like Fleishman-Hillard, which also has an internship program. We’ve pulled several public relations scholarships from the Scholarships.com database for you but to find even more scholarship awards for which you qualify, conduct a free scholarship search. It’s worth it!

ABA Academic Merit Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 4/6/2020
  • Amount: $5,000
  • The Academic Merit Scholarship is open to both ABA and non-ABA Members. To be eligible, candidates will have completed, at a minimum, their first year of an accredited university (4-year university/college or junior college); must have a declared major or course of study relevant to the transportation, travel and tourism industry; must possess a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher. For more [...] More

ACES Bill Walsh Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 11/15/2019
  • Amount: $3,000
  • The Bill Walsh scholarship will go to an applicant who aspires to edit news and who demonstrates the talent and passion for language that Bill devoted his life to. The scholarships are open to college juniors, seniors and graduate students who have demonstrated an interest in and aptitude for copy editing jobs or internships. For more information and to download the application form, please visit [...] More

ACF American Advertising Federation-NM Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 6/7/2020
  • Amount: $1,400
  • The American Advertising Federation-New Mexico (AAF-NM) Scholarship Fund has been established to provide scholarships to deserving men and women who intend to enter the advertising profession. In order to apply, you must be a New Mexico resident enrolled full-time at a four-year New Mexico public or non-profit college/university as a junior or senior in one of the following majors: Business (with [...] More

Austin Alliance for Women in Media Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 3/1/2020
  • Amount: $5,000
  • Applicants must complete 75+ hours of college course work by December of the year of the award, but must not graduate before December. Must have a inimum 3.25 GPA out of 4.0 and must be enrolled as a full-time student (carrying a minimum of 12 hours per semester) at an Austin or San Marcos area university, with a declared major in radio, television, film, digital media, public relations, [...] More

Bethesda Lutheran Communities Lutheran Student Scholastic & Service Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 5/18/2020
  • Amount: $30,000
  • Bethesda Lutheran Communities offers two scholarships to Lutheran students pursuing undergraduate degrees in any area of service to people with developmental disabilities.

    Eligibility/Requirements:
    Be an active, communicant member of a Lutheran congregation. Be a freshmen, sophomore, or junior at an accredited college/university. Have a minimum 3.0 GPA. Have a career objective in the field of [...] More

CIRI "Cap" Lathrop Endowment Scholarship Fund

  • Application Deadline: 6/1/2020
  • Amount: $6,000
  • The Cap Lathrop Endowment Scholarship Fund was established in 1997 in memory of Captain "Cap" Lathrop who was a pioneer in Alaska’s telecommunications and broadcast industry.

    The Endowment, one of The CIRI Foundation’s several scholarship endowment programs, is funded with contributions from its major donor, A.E. "Augie" Hiebert, founder of Northern Television, Inc., General Communications, [...] More

Davidson Fellows Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 2/13/2020
  • Amount: $50,000
  • The Davidson Fellows Scholarship awards $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 scholarships to extraordinary young people, 18 and under, who have completed a significant piece of work. Application categories are Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Literature, Music, Philosophy and Outside the Box. Davidson Fellows are honored every year in Washington, D.C. with Congressional meetings and a [...] More

Kenneth H. Ashworth Fellowship Program

  • Application Deadline: 2/20/2020
  • Amount: Varies
  • The Kenneth H. Ashworth Fellowship Program provides financial assistance to students with financial need who are enrolled in graduate programs in public affairs, public service or public administration.

    Applicants must be Texas residents who are able to show financial need and are enrolled as graduate students in public affairs, public service or public administration. Must intend to work in [...] More

Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for Racial Ethnic Minority Students

  • Application Deadline: 3/15/2020
  • Amount: $2,500
  • The Leonard M. Perryman Communications Scholarship for Racial Ethnic Minority Students awards a scholarship for undergraduate studies of religion, journalism, or communications. The scholarship assists a United Methodist undergraduate who intends to pursue a career in religious journalism through study at an accredited U.S. college or university. Applicants must be a United Methodist ethnic [...] More

National Press Club Scholarship for Journalism Diversity

  • Application Deadline: 3/1/2020
  • Amount: $2,000
  • The National Press Club, the leading professional organization for journalists, wants to recruit promising future journalists who will bring diversity to American journalism. The scholarship consists of a one-year scholarship, with an additional $500 book stipend that is renewable up to 3 years.

    The competition is open to high school seniors who are preparing to enter college and intend to [...] More

NDS McCullough Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 4/15/2020
  • Amount: $2,000
  • Applicant must be a high school senior planning to enter a four-year college or university with intent to major in Dairy/Animal Science with a Communications emphasis or Agricultural Journalism with a Dairy/Animal Science emphasis. Students must be planning on a career in dairy journalism or communications For more information or to apply, please visit the scholarship provider's [...] More

New York Financial Writers' Association Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 4/15/2020
  • Amount: Varies
  • The New York Financial Writers Association Scholarships are for journalism students in the New York City metropolitan area who wish to pursue a career in business or financial journalism.

    Complete the application providing your present address and telephone number and, if different, your permanent home address and telephone number. Applications should be available at your department or the [...] More

Pulliam Journalism Fellowship

  • Application Deadline: 11/1/2019
  • Amount: $6,500
  • College juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in a journalism or related degree program as of Nov. 1, are eligible to apply for the Pulliam Journalism Fellowship. Previous newspaper journalism internships and/or experience as a journalist on a college newspaper are preferred. You need to be committed to a career in news journalism. You must have reliable transportation and arrange for [...] More

SCPA Foundation Scholarships

  • Application Deadline: 3/11/2020
  • Amount: $3,000
  • The South Carolina Press Association Foundation awards up to three scholarships each year to S.C. college students interested in pursuing newspaper careers. encourages talented young people to enter the newspaper business and provides training and growth opportunities for working professionals. Scholarships are open to student journalists who attend a four-year college in South Carolina or who [...] More

Stoody-West Graduate Fellowship

  • Application Deadline: 3/15/2020
  • Amount: $6,000
  • The purpose of the fellowship is to enhance the recipient's professional competence and thereby help to perpetuate the standards exemplified by Ralph Stoody and Arthur West. Religious journalism is interpreted to include news writing for secular press, church press and for church institutions. The committee considers all news and journalism forms, including electronic and broadcast media, as well [...] More

The AAF-Greater Evansville Scholarship Award

  • Application Deadline: 3/25/2020
  • Amount: $5,000
  • The AAF-Greater Evansville awards scholarships to deserving high school and/or college students yearly in April. Over the past 40 years, AAF-Greater Evansville has distributed over $158,000 in scholarship awards. To be eligible, students must plan to pursue a career in advertising, marketing, public relations or graphic design. The application deadline varies yearly, but is typically in early [...] More

The Harold K. Douthit Regional Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 4/19/2020
  • Amount: $2,000
  • The Ohio Newspapers Foundation will award a scholarship to a student from northern Ohio who is currently enrolled and majoring in a field relevant to our industry, particularly journalism, advertising, marketing, or communications degree program at an Ohio college or university. The scholarship is named for Harold K. Douthit, founder of Douthit Communications, Inc., Sandusky, and a former [...] More

The LAGRANT Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships

  • Application Deadline: 2/28/2020
  • Amount: $2,500
  • LAGRANT Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship recipients will receive a trip to Cincinnati, OH where they will participate in career building activities including a welcome dinner with a keynote speaker, two daylong career & professional development workshops and a scholarship and donor recognition reception. Applicants must be from a minority ethnic group, studying a field of study that has an [...] More

The Walter J. Travis Memorial Scholarship

  • Application Deadline: 6/1/2020
  • Amount: $1,000
  • Applicants for The Walter J. Travis Memorial Scholarship must be enrolled/matriculated as a full-time undergraduate or graduate student at an accredited two-year or four-year college/university in Landscape Architecture, Journalism and PR, Sport Management or Park & Recreation Management.

    Awards are renewable subject to re-application, including a letter of recommendation from at least one of [...] More

Upper Midwest Emmy Chapter/Foundation Scholarships

  • Application Deadline: 2/5/2020
  • Amount: $3,000
  • The NATAS-Upper Midwest Chapter/Foundation offers $2,500 student scholarship grants to be used for tuition & books. Scholarships are open to high school and college/university students living in the five-state area served by the Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa & western Wisconsin).

    Applicants must [...] More

Latest College & Financial Aid News

Harvard Revokes Parkland Shooting Suvivor's Admissions Offer

June 18, 2019

by Susan Dutca-Lovell

Harvard revoked more admissions offers - this time involving 10 students who participated in a Facebook group called "Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens." Jokes about abusing children and the Holocaust and insulting comments about different racial and ethnic groups were found in the group, according to Inside Higher Ed.

Earlier this month, Harvard also rescinded an admission offer to Kyle Kashuv who, when he was 16 years old, used inflammatory and racist language, including the N-word, right before the Parkland shooting at his school, Stoneman Douglas High School. The shootings have since "changed him and made him more mature," he claims. Kashuv became famous for his conservatism, pro-gun and pro-Trump activism which he believes, represent a different view on how to prevent future, like tragedies.

In a recent Twitter post, he apologized for his past comments and stated that, "We were 16-year-olds making idiotic comments, using callous and inflammatory language in an effort to be as extreme and shocking as possible...I'm embarrassed by it, but I want to be clear that the comments I made are not indicative of who I am or who I've become in the years since." Shortly thereafter, Harvard looked into his case and eventually revoked his admissions offer. Though university personnel appreciate his "candor and expressions of regret," Harvard "takes seriously" the "qualities of maturity" and of "character" of the students it admits. Despite appealing the revocation, Kashuv was turned down. In his defense, Kashuv argues that, "throughout its history, Harvard's faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and anti-Semites. If Harvard is suggesting that growth isn't possible and that our past defines our future, then Harvard is an inherently racist institution. But I don't believe that. I believe that institutions and people can grow. I've said that repeatedly." In your opinion, should Kashuv have had his admissions offer revoked based on something he did when he was 16? Why or why not? [...]

Wiccan Prof Sues Catholic University Over Alleged Discrimination

June 11, 2019

by Susan Dutca-Lovell

A Wiccan Professor at St. Bonaventure sued the university and her alma mater for discrimination, alleging that she was not allowed to advance in her career because she is a woman and a witch. The reported discrimination began around Halloween in 2011, after she was asked to conduct an interview about her Wiccan beliefs with the university's student TV station, SBU-TV. [...]

LGBTQ Scholarships for Pride Month

June 6, 2019

by Susan Dutca-Lovell

In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month this June, Scholarships.com is recognizing the success of, and providing financial aid resources to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer community and its allies through featured LGBTQ scholarships. These colorful LGBTQ scholarships are not only intended for those who identify as LBTQ or are questioning, but are available to LGBTQ parents and allies, as well. Below is a preview of LGBTQ scholarships that were created to provide economic mobility and equality for LGBTQ students and allies who may face unique challenges on their educational journeys. For even more LGBTQ scholarships, Parent LGBTQ scholarships or LGBTQ Ally scholarships, visit here. [...]

Last Reviewed: June 2019

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